Travel Help Please - Seattle

[Luv2Quilt]

We begin and end our cruise in Seattle, WA. How has everyone arranged to get from the port back to the airport? I know how we are getting to the port. We want to get to the airport as quickly as possible after disembarkation.

 

Anyone have a good recommendation for a limo company?

 

Other ideas?

[CrusinCouple]

Of course I don't know if this is true...but my TA said its not that far, he recommened a taxi...so that's our plan.

[crazydazeymae]

If I remember correctly, it was about $25 (plus tip) from downtown Seattle to SeaTac airport. Maybe a bit more now that gas prices are going up. (ie b/c of possible fuel surcharges)

[nanashirl]

This is the first time that we booked transfers thru cruise ship.

We booked our own air but thought it might be easier to just buy all the transfers from HA. They are to pick us up at airport, transport to Hotel, pick up next morning at hotel to transport to ship and then take from port to airport. Hope it works out.

[jan7487]

Hi--

 

I live in the area---it shouldn't take more than 30" from Pier 30 to Sea-Tac. I would agree that a taxi (around $30) or the HA transfers would probably be your best bet.

 

We live in the suburbs and always use Evergreen TownCar when going to and from the airport. They will probably run about $60 from the pier, but are very reliable and courteous.

 

Janet

[5 in OK]

This is our first trip to Seattle so we did some research and since we have 7 (and all that luggage) in our group we were going to have to take 2 taxis. Plus we wanted quick and easy service from the pier.

 

We came across Seattle Shuttle Express. Their number is (425) 981-7000 and their website is: www.shuttleexpress.com.

 

We got a great deal by combining airport to pier and then pier to airport reservations. You can pre-pay with your credit card and they e-mail you a confirmation number so it's all taken care of in advance. :)

 

Good Luck!

[Luv2Quilt]

Hi--

 

I live in the area---it shouldn't take more than 30" from Pier 30 to Sea-Tac. I would agree that a taxi (around $30) or the HA transfers would probably be your best bet.

 

We live in the suburbs and always use Evergreen TownCar when going to and from the airport. They will probably run about $60 from the pier, but are very reliable and courteous.

 

Janet

 

Do you have a number or other information on them?

 

The only thing that worries me about the taxi is that so many people will be looking to get a taxi that there won't be enough.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Do you have a number or other information on them?

 

The only thing that worries me about the taxi is that so many people will be looking to get a taxi that there won't be enough.

 

Luv2Quilt:

 

Here's a link for you:

 

http://www.evergreencar.com/index.htm

[HALOnlyCruiser]

HAL transfers are great and work well for folks doing their own air. Look for the gal in a red blazer in baggage claim holding a sign with "Holland America Line". After you retrieve your luggage, she will direct you to the desk where you turn in (or buy) your transfers. They take your luggage (with your ship tag attached); you're on the bus and off to the pier. On sailing days, they pretty much run every quarter to half hour.

[nanashirl]

What About If You Come In The Day Before? We Have Transfer From Airport To Hotel The Day Before And Then From Hotel To Pier On Cruise Day And Then Back To Airport When We Depart. Do You Know How That Works?

[HALOnlyCruiser]

It works pretty much as you described. Look for the HAL lady (red blazer and holding a Holland Ameica Line sign) at baggage claim and tell her you have a hotel transfer. She'll take care of you from there.

At the hotel you will be able to do your ship check-in the morning of sailing, or maybe even the night before. They should let you know, but you can ask when you check in. Some hotels have special check-in desks for those with cruise line vouchers. At (hotel) ship check-in, you will take care of all the credit card registration and get your cabin key. All you will have to do at the pier is go through the security portal (like at the airport), smile for the photographer, and board the ship! When they pick you up at the hotel on sailing day, there is usually a city tour before you are taken to the pier. (Killing time, it's called.)

When you fill out your disembarkation form on the ship (usually given to you before you're even unpacked:D) you will tell them on the form that you have HAL transfers to the airport, and they will give you (on the last day) a colored or striped tag to put on your luggage that you wish to have them take off the ship (these are put put into the hall by midnight the night before disembarkation and are whisked away while you sleep; to be claimed by you on the pier after disembarking.) You will also be given a number or letter, and once the CD announces the letter/number over the PA the next morning, you will disembark, re-claim your luggage, and hop on the bus to the airport. If you have a flight that leaves after 3:00PM, at the Shore Excursion Desk onboard only they will offer a city tour with airport drop-off. You turn in your transfer voucher, pay a little extra, and get a city tour, with sightseeing stops, on your way to the airport. It's better than sitting around the airport all day IMHO. The drill is essentially the same, except you may stay on board the ship a little longer so that all those who have immediate transportation plans can get off first.

Is this anything close to what you wanted to know?:)

[BajaFred]

HalOnlyCruiser: Thank you for the detailed info. I didn't ask the original question, but you described our current plans. Good to know we will be able to check in at the hotel. Also, good to know we can exchange our outbound transfer for a city tour and then drop off at airport. Our flight goes out at 3:10 & I was not looking forward to hanging out at the airport.

Carole

[nanashirl]

Just what I needed to know!!! Thanks so much for the info. They didn't say anything about checking in at hotel. I knew that Carnival did this if you were staying at one of their hotels. That is great.

Really appreciate your help.

Shirl

[Luv2Quilt]

Thank you everyone for all your help. Sorry I hadn't gotten back here sooner.

 

We are staying at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel the night before and from what I understand, there is a HAL desk right in the lobby for easy transfer to the pier. I was just worried about from the pier back to the airport when we disembark at the end of the cruise.

 

Thanks for all the help. :)

[jamespebbles]

Thank you everyone for all your help. Sorry I hadn't gotten back here sooner.

 

We are staying at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel the night before and from what I understand, there is a HAL desk right in the lobby for easy transfer to the pier. I was just worried about from the pier back to the airport when we disembark at the end of the cruise.

 

Thanks for all the help. :)

Hi, we just got back from our Alaska cruise on the Westerdam. We came in the day before; met a Holland America rep. while picking up our luggage who directed us to Gate 00. Our luggage was tagged with the Sheraton tag, and off we were to the hotel. We presented our voucher for the bus ride to the hotel. At the hotel, we presented the appropriate voucher for checkin. On Checkin, we were presented a letter with information for the city tour and transport to the ship. On Sun., we checked in with the Holland America rep at 8:30; then went on the city tour, then back to hotel. We left hotel around 12:30 and were on the ship a little after 1:00. Very painless. Since we had an 11:45 flight back, we were an early group to disembark the ship. Our group was called around 7:30 and we were through customs and on the bus (HAL airport transfers @ $20 each) by 8 am. We were at our airport gate by 9 a.m. So as you can see, things went exceptionally smooth.

[nanashirl]

Hi JamesPebbles,

We are going on the Westerdam on June 4, also staying at the Sheraton the night before. Do I understand correct - you checked in at the hotel with HA rep for the cruise and did not have to do anything at pier before boarding. Also the city tour you are talking about I assume it is a tour that is offered (which they charge for) that you can take if your want to. If not would you get to the ship any sooner? How did you like the tour? Didn't know if the HA rep would be at the airport since we are coming in a day early, but glad to hear that they are. Any suggestions for tours, etc on the cruise?

Thanks for your imput.

Shirl

[HALOnlyCruiser]

Nanashirl:

There will be a HAL Gal at the airport on Saturday because the Oosterdam sails on Saturday. Just tell her you have a hotel transfer.

Hotel check-in takes care of everything....credit card registration, etc. You even get your cabin key. All you have to do is take the bus to the peir. The city tour doesn't cost extra for those with transfers. It's just part of the deal. I supposed you could skip it and take a cab to the pier if you wanted to get there earlier, but you've already paid for the transfer (and tour).:) Since the (tour) bus passengers have already checked in for the ship, the bus just drops you off at the gangway, and you go right through security and onto the ship...no hassle.

As for shore excursions, check my post on this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=346128

Also visit the Main CC Board page and scroll down to "Ports of Call" section and select "Alaska". Lots of info there. Have a great trip!

[jamespebbles]

Hi JamesPebbles,

We are going on the Westerdam on June 4, also staying at the Sheraton the night before. Do I understand correct - you checked in at the hotel with HA rep for the cruise and did not have to do anything at pier before boarding. Also the city tour you are talking about I assume it is a tour that is offered (which they charge for) that you can take if your want to. If not would you get to the ship any sooner? How did you like the tour? Didn't know if the HA rep would be at the airport since we are coming in a day early, but glad to hear that they are. Any suggestions for tours, etc on the cruise?

Thanks for your imput.

Shirl

Hi, after the bus took us to the pier, we did have to check in. Howver, it was very quick (about 30 min. @ 12:30. They directed you to lines if you had filled out your immigration on-line or handwritten. We had done it on line. A Hal rep made sure you had all the appropriate items in hand (tickets, immigration form, passports or birthcertificates and ID`s. It was so much faster than the 4 hrs we spent in line last Nov. in Galveston for Princess. The only problem with the city tour was that it was the morning of the cruise. Since they had a breakdown of a doubledecker bus, it was about 45 min. late which didn`t really leave a lot of time for getting off the bus and catching a later one as we`d planned on doing. There is a grayline rep in the Sheraton also so you might be able to get another tour on Sat. if you get in early. The Civic Center right behind the hotel has several places to eat and multiple Starbucks. It`s only 6 blocks to Pike`s Market so we were able to walk there. We did enjoy the tour, just wished we`d had more time. We ended up getting on the bus at 9:45 and had to be back at the hotel for noon. It`s an hour trip so we only made the one loop. You`d get to the pier at the same time since they leave in aa group if you have the hotel wwith transportation to the pier. The tour was about $30 I think. We booked the hotel and doubledecker bus combo through Hal. Have a great trip!

[nanashirl]

Thanks for your response Jamespebbles. Don't think we have the tour with our transfer. We were really hoping that we could get to the pier by 11 or 11:30 that morning, we have 5:45 dinner so wanted to get to Lido and have an early lunch. Guess we could take a cab but don't want to waste transfer we have already paid for. HalOnlycruiser (previous post) thought you could go ahead and do everything at Hotel instead of ship but they have probably changed it. Was Pikes Market open late on Sat. evening? We don't get into Seattle until around 5pm on Sat. Wanted to be sure and see it if possible.

[Luv2Quilt]

Hi, we just got back from our Alaska cruise on the Westerdam. We came in the day before; met a Holland America rep. while picking up our luggage who directed us to Gate 00. Our luggage was tagged with the Sheraton tag, and off we were to the hotel. We presented our voucher for the bus ride to the hotel. At the hotel, we presented the appropriate voucher for checkin. On Checkin, we were presented a letter with information for the city tour and transport to the ship. On Sun., we checked in with the Holland America rep at 8:30; then went on the city tour, then back to hotel. We left hotel around 12:30 and were on the ship a little after 1:00. Very painless. Since we had an 11:45 flight back, we were an early group to disembark the ship. Our group was called around 7:30 and we were through customs and on the bus (HAL airport transfers @ $20 each) by 8 am. We were at our airport gate by 9 a.m. So as you can see, things went exceptionally smooth.

 

Did you pre-arrange to meet the HAL rep or did you just happen upon him/her? For some reason, I can't get my head around this transfer thing and nail down what I should do - so many options and choices is making me :eek: . We arriving the day before in the mid-afternoon.

[Moogy]

We sailed on the Oosterdam last week, out of Seattle. I arranged our own hotel for the night before, since I had a frequent-customer free night at the Hampton Inn.

 

The next morning, we used Seattle Express to go from the hotel to the pier. They were PACKED with every seatbelt used, even though we warned them we had excess luggage (my dad's oxygen concentrator was in a HUGE box). The driver was very nice. The price was $10 per person (plus tip). It was too crowded and too slow, though, since it stopped at two or three other hotels after picking us up. Next time, I will take a cab.

 

A week later, we had transfers for the return trip, so I was expecting improved service. I do NOT recommend this, based on our experience.

 

We had a late afternoon flight, so we exited off the ship about 10 am. Luggage retrieval was ok, but then there was a MOB rather than a line, to get onto the buses, with little or no direction from the HAL staff. Although we were pushing my dad's wheelchair, we were crammed in with everyone else. In fact, it appeared several wheelchairs might have waited longer than other customers as the staff attempted to crowd every last person and every last suitcase into the few remaining buses. For some reason, buses to American and another airline (United, maybe?) were separate buses, and those were not filling up. We were flying on Southwest, and we had to wait a long time for them to send another bus after all the other buses left. There were three wheelchair customers in this last waiting group.

 

Then, the bus dropped everyone at the outlying check-in point for American and United! (I guess we should have smuggled ourselves onto one of those American buses!) We had to wait forever for a porter to find an available dolly, since we had too much stuff to manage on our own. There were other porters around, but the one handling our area said those dollies belong to someone else, we aren't allowed to use them. Then we got to push Papa's wheelchair up the hill to the main terminal. There was NO cover, so it is good that the rain had stopped by then.

 

For all this "convenience" :rolleyes: we paid $20 per person.

 

Next time I will take a cab or a limo!

 

Fortunately, we were coming off a wonderful cruise, so these minor problems did not mar the overall experience!

 

Moogy

[CrusinCouple]

We too just returned from the Oosterdam...We opted for a cab to the airport. Very simple...we got off the ship, walked past the mobs of people waiting in unorganized lines for the HAL transfers, and jumped in a cab. Its a flat rate of $28.00 to the airport. They dropped us off right at the door.

 

Maybe a few more dollars, but definetly worth it!

[babytraveler]

Do any of you Seattle experts know if all Seattle Taxis have seatbelts with shoulder belts? I'm traveling with 2 kids, one in a booster seat (requiring shoulder belt) and one in a car seat needing a seat belt. Since cabs don't always have them, I was going to go for a Town Car, but if seatbelts are the norm (for example, NYC never had them, now all taxis have them), then I could do a taxi instead.

 

??

[gwenmarie]

Just recently used cabs in

Seattle and both had seatbelts. Oregon and Washington both have click it or ticket laws.

[sarasmile]

our cabs too and from had shoulder belts I think, but it's not something really pay enough attention to to tell you if all cabs have them or not. Sorry!

 

Definitely take a cab. There was a long line of cabs waiting and plenty for both our ship as well as the sun princess (dissembarking at the same time). The cab line works similar to the ones you see in vegas- long line with a porter directing traffic. The line was moving quickly though so don't worry too much about that.

 

We were in the late disembarkation group and still had no trouble.

 

The pier is quite close to the airport.